1. When we were safely ashore, we learnt that the island was called Malta.
2. The natives there were very friendly to us. It had started to rain and was cold, so they lit a fire and made us all welcome.
3. Paul gathered up a bundle of sticks and was putting them on the fire when a snake came out on account of the heat and fastened itself to his hand.
4. The natives saw the snake hanging on Paul's hand and said to one another, “This man must be a murderer, but Fate will not let him live, even though he escaped from the sea.”
5. But Paul shook the snake off into the fire without being harmed at all.
6. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after waiting for a long time and not seeing anything unusual happening to him, they changed their minds and said, “He is a god!”